Rear grain cart handling assemblies for an articulated harvesting combine

ABSTRACT

A grain harvesting articulated combine of a forward crop processing power unit (PPU), a rear grain cart, and an articulation joint that connects the PPU with the rear grain cart and includes an auger assembly that moves clean grain from the PPU to the rear grain cart. Two pump circuits deliver power to a pair of hydrostatic motors located in the rear grain cart, one pump circuit hydrostatic motor driving the grain unloader assembly, the other pump circuit hydrostatic motor driving the ascending fill lift auger assembly, the drag auger assemblies, and the articular joint auger assembly. Power (inertia) can be harvested from auger assemblies not moving grain for startup or clog clearing of the other auger assemblies.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No.14/946,842 filed Nov. 20, 2015.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH

Not applicable.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates to a system and method to unload grainfrom a grain tank on an agricultural harvester to a transport vehicle,and specifically to an improved rear grain cart of an articulatedagricultural harvester.

While the design of the grain cart in U.S. Ser. No. 14/946,842, now U.S.Pat. No. 9,901,0303, is a substantial improvement in the art, a reliableincreased maximum grain unload rate was desired with decreasing powerrequirements therefor. Moreover, increased startup torque to the augersalso was desired to guard against stall. It also was noted that thedesign had no inertia to be “harvested” from other turning componentswhen the source of power to each component came from a separate source,as must be true of individual hydraulic motors.

In order to give each component adequate size to provide amplebreak-away torque, the displacement of each motor would have to grow tosuch size that, when in operation, the entire system would have requiredmassive hydraulic flow and many large hydraulic lines going from thefront module to the rear module across the articulation joint. In orderto achieve desired results in a cost effective and reliable manner, itbecame apparent that the original design would have to be modified.

To somewhat contain costs, the smaller components needed to be poweredby hydraulic motors instead of hydrostatic motors, with the incumbentrequirement that maximum system pressure would be 3,000 psi rather thanthe 6,000 psi known for hydrostatic systems. Thereby, the amount ofpower that could be delivered by a given size (diameter) of conduit(hose) would by default be % of the amount that the conduit couldconduct (to the rear module across the hinge joint) if the system werehydrostatic.

The presently disclosed articulated combine is based on an improved reargrain cart having improved grain handling, improved design, and improvedgrain unloading.

BRIEF SUMMARY

A grain harvesting articulated combine includes a forward cropprocessing power unit (PPU), a rear grain cart, and an articulationjoint that connects the PPU with the rear grain cart and includes anauger assembly that moves clean grain from the PPU to the rear graincart. Housed within the rear grain cart are an ascending fill lift augerassembly that receives clean grain from the forward PPU and transportsit upwardly and dumps the clean grain into the rear grain cart; a pairof drag auger assemblies located at the bottom of the rear grain cartand dragging grain inwardly; and a grain unloader assembly that receivesgrain from the drag auger assemblies and unloads clean grain from therear grain cart. Only two pump circuits are required for deliveringpower to a pair of hydrostatic motors located in the rear grain cart. Afirst pump circuit hydrostatic motor drives the grain unloader assembly.A second pump circuit hydrostatic motor drives the ascending fill liftauger assembly, the drag auger assemblies, and the articular joint augerassembly.

The second pump circuit hydrostatic motor is connected to a clutchedcommon chain box for power distribution. Current features for today'sagricultural harvesters can be based on features disclosed in U.S. Pat.Nos. 8,286,984, 8,292,008, and 8,435,104.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a fuller understanding of the nature and advantages of the presentmethod and process, reference should be had to the following detaileddescription taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation view of an articulated combine having thedisclosed grain cart;

FIG. 2 is an overhead view of the articulated combine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an isometric view of the articulated combine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an isometric view of the disclosed rear grain cart of thearticulated combine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an overhead view of the disclosed rear grain cart of thearticulated combine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a bottom view of the disclosed rear grain cart of thearticulated combine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line 7-7 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is an isometric view of the grain transfer and unloadingequipment of the disclosed rear grain cart of the articulated combine ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 9 is a bottom view of the disclosed rear grain cart with the rearwheel steering system and some of the support structure removed tobetter see the augers and drives;

FIG. 10 is an isometric view of the grain transfer and unloadingequipment of the disclosed rear grain cart of the articulated combine ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 11 is a top view of the grain transfer and unloading equipmentshown in FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is sectional view taken along line 12-12 of FIG. 11;

FIG. 12A is a detailed enlarged view of the grain yield sensor, bubblerauger and its drive motor from FIG. 12;

FIG. 13 is a front isometric view of the grain transfer and unloadingequipment of the disclosed rear grain cart of the articulated combine ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 13A is a detailed enlarged view of the grain transfer and grainyield sensor from FIG. 13;

FIG. 14 is an isometric view of the grain unload auger assembly with itssliding end spout;

FIG. 15 is a top view of the grain unload auger assembly of FIG. 14;

FIG. 16 is a sectional view taken along line 16-16 of FIG. 15;

FIG. 17 is an isometric view from below of the grain unload augerassembly with its sliding end spout of FIG. 14;

FIG. 18 is a bottom view of the grain unload auger assembly with itssliding end spout;

FIG. 19 is a sectional view taken along line 19-19 of FIG. 18, and.

FIG. 20 is a simplified schematic of the hydraulic circuits for the reargrain cart.

The drawings will be described in greater detail below.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The disclosed rear grain cart design addresses the foregoingshortcomings. All of the power needed to drive augers is transmitted tothe rear module at hydrostatic pressures and flow rates in only two pumpcircuits—one circuit, as shown in FIG. 20, including a charge pump, 136,with a case drain, 142, for the two pump circuits, a first circuitincluding a first pump, 138, feeding a first motor, 55, and case drain142 for the swinging the unloader auger that moves in and out, and theother second circuit again fed by charge pump 136 and including a secondpump, 140, feeding a second motor, 60, with drain 142—running all otheraugers in the rear grain cart. The two bottom drag augers (front andrear in the grain cart), the drawbar auger carrying grain from the frontmodule to the rear module, the bubbler or inclined tank fill augerreceiving grain from the drawbar auger to fill the grain cart grain bin,and the unloader lift auger are driven with power delivered to the rearmodule by a large hydrostatic motor that drives a common chain box forpower distribution. By doing this, any one component of these augers canrealize startup or clog-clearing torque (power) that can, perhaps, be aslarge as the level delivered by a large hydrostatic motor. With theinertias of each of the components being tied to the whole system,startup of a given component can harvest inertia from others thatalready may be turning, resulting in available power instantaneouslyexceeding even the output of the main motor (for an impulse period). It,then, becomes the art of configuring drive circuits that allow the mainmotor driven chain box to distribute the power to the various augerslocated in the rear grain cart (or rear module). The power, motors, andpumps delivering power to the rear grain cart augers are detailed inU.S. Ser. No. 15/643,685 filed Jul. 7, 2017 (now, U.S. Pat. No.10,257,977).

The articulated agricultural harvester or combine (these terms beingsynonymous and used interchangeably) in the drawings is a Tribine™harvester (Tribine Industries LLC, Logansport, Ind.) having a grain bincapacity of 1,000 bushels of clean grain and unloads the clean grain ata rate of 540 bushels per minute (9 bushels/second). Normal grainremoval from an elevated grain bin uses an unload auger running from theback to the front of the grain bin for transferring grain to the unloadarm assembly. When grain is unloaded from the grain bin in this fashion,grain preferentially is removed from the rear of the grain bin; thus,leaving the remaining grain in the front of the grain bin. This cancause weight on the tongue (articulation joint) to increase from nearzero to around 8,600 lbs. The disclosed grain cart auger feed system andunload auger system evens out grain removal and unloads virtually all ofthe grain in the grain cart very rapidly.

Referring initially to FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, an articulated harvester, 10,consists of a powered forward powered processing unit (hereinafter,PPU), 12, a rear grain cart, 14, and an articulation joint, 16, thatconnects forward PPU 12 with rear grain cart 14. The details ofarticulation joint 16 and grain auger assembly 26 are disclosed incommonly owned application Ser. No. 14/946,827 filed Nov. 20, 2015.Forward PPU 12 carries a grainhead, 18, operator's cab, 20, graincleaning and handling assembly (not shown), and engine (not shown). Thegrain cleaning and handling assembly in forward PPU 12 is disclosed incommonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 9,820,442 (application Ser. No. 14/967,691filed Dec. 14, 2015). Forward PPU 12 is devoid of any grain storage,such being exclusive in rear grain cart 14. While both forward PPU 12and rear grain cart 14 are shown being carried by wheel assemblies, oneor both could be tracked. A screened air inlet, 15, is located atopforward PPU 12.

An off-loading auger assembly, 22, is in the folded home position andbeing carried by rear grain cart 14. Grain cart 14 also bears a foldableroof, 24, shown in an open position, but which can fold inwardly tocover grain stored in rear grain cart 14. Foldable roof 24 may be madeof metal, plastic, or other suitable material, but may be made ofdurable plastic for weight reduction and easy folding/unfolding. Cleangrain is stored in grain cart 14, the sides of which may be made ofplastic also in keeping with desirable weight reduction; although, itcould be made of metal also at the expense of weight. All plastic partsmay be filled with particulate or fiber reinforcement in conventionalfashion and could be laminate in construction.

Referring now to FIGS. 4 and 5, clean grain from PPU 12 is fed to graincart 14 through a grain auger assembly, 26, which is part ofarticulation joint 16, by a motor not seen in the drawings. As seen inFIG. 6 also, rear grain cart 14 rides on a pair of tired wheelassemblies, 30 and 32, connected by an axle assembly, 34. Hydraulicmotor and gear reduction assemblies, 40 and 42, are fitted within eachwheel assembly 30 and 32, respectively, for powering rear grain cart 14.The grain bin rests atop frame supports, 36 and 38, which are part ofrear grain cart frame assembly, 44. Rear grain cart 14 also carries fueltanks, 46 and 48 for the engines in forward PPU 12. A hatch, 50, islocated at the rear of grain storage bin 28 to provide entry into itsinterior for repair and maintenance purposes. Steering rod and pistonassemblies, 52 and 54, connect to frame assembly 44, as seen best inFIG. 6. While the various auger assemblies are hydraulically powered inthe drawings, electrical motors and pneumatic motors could be used. Notall lines and hydraulic motors can be seen in the drawings.

Referring in more detail to FIGS. 6 and 9, a hydraulic motor, 55, powersa bubbler or slanted grain lift auger assembly, 56 (see FIG. 7 anddescribed in detail later herein), which takes the clean grain from PPU12 and distributes such into rear grain cart 14. A main gearbox, 58, islocated adjacent to a main motor, 60, that drives sprockets through achain drive, 62, for carrying power to various augers in grain cart 14.An electric clutch assembly, 64, is used conventionally to apply andwithdraw power from main motor 60. Main motor 60 provides power forbubble auger assembly 56, a drive shaft, 66, for an unloader augerassembly, 68. Grain auger assembly 26 and bubbler auger assembly 56 runso long as main motor 60 is running and not clutched. As such, theyprovide inertia for all of the other auger assemblies for startup, clogclearing, and other instances when needed. Main motor 60 also powers theauger of grain auger assembly 26 feeding grain from PPU 12 to rear graincart 14. A rear drive shaft, 67, drives a rear drag auger describedlater herein. Shafts 66 and 67 are coupled through a gearbox, 69. Shaft67 is connected at its rear to an electric clutch assembly, 166, and bya chain, 168, to a sprocket, 170, for rotation of rear drag auger 80(see FIG. 10 also).

Referring now also to FIG. 7 in addition to FIG. 6, bubbler grain augerassembly 56 is formed of a lower auger section, 70, and an upper augersection, 72, which can be folded by an actuator, 74, in order for roof24 to be closed by an electric linear actuator, 76, and associatedclosing structure. A similar electric linear actuator and closingstructure is used to close the opposite roof, as seen better in FIG. 2.Ascending bubbler grain auger assembly receives grain from grain augerassembly 26 and in turn dumps the clean grain into grain cart 14.

Also seen in FIGS. 7, 8, and 11, are a forward drag grain augerassembly, 78, and rear drag grain auger assembly, 80, both of which dragclean grain towards the central area grain cart 14 where the bottom of alift auger assembly, 68, which feeds grain off-loading auger assembly22. Driveshaft 67 powers a clutch assembly, 166, and drives rear dragauger 80. Also seen are doors in phantom, 84, for front drag auger 78and a door, 86, for rear drag auger 80. The doors are shown in phantomin an up or open position and are raised/lowered by actuators, 88 and90, respectively. Opening and closing of the doors controls admission ofclean grain for movement by the drag augers. Also seen is a moisturesensor assembly, 92, that provides grain moisture readout to theoperator. A drive motor, 60, drives lift auger assembly 68 through driveshaft 66. A linear actuator, 96, permits rotation of off-loading augerassembly 22 for off-loading grain and for its folding and unfoldingthrough slew bearing assembly, 98, as described in detail in U.S. Ser.No. 14/946,842, cited above.

The grain yield sensor assembly is seen if FIGS. 7, 12, 12A, 13, and13A. In particular grain auger tube assembly 26 moves clean grain fromPPU 12 to rear grain cart 14. At the grain cart end of tube 26, auger,100, housed within auger tube assembly 26 is terminated with a paddleassembly, 102, rotating counterclockwise, as is auger, 100. A portion ofthe clean grain is flung along the direction of arrow 104 onto an impactsensor pad, 106, that is the flow rate, measuring device common tocombine harvester grain elevators in the trade. Grain yield impactsensor pad 106 provides a measure of the amount of clean grain movinginto grain cart 14.

In particular, tube 26 is inserted a bit (say, about 6″) into a largerdiameter tube, 108. The flights of auger 100 terminate a short distance(say, about 2″) before the end of tube 26. Paddle assembly 102 startwhere the flights terminate and initially are a smaller diameter (say,about 11″), which, then, increases in diameter to its full diameter(say, about 14″) once inside larger diameter tube 108. This was donebecause the auger works best (most efficiently) at an RPM that proved tobe too slow for the paddles to give the grain sufficient velocity topenetrate into the vertical auger flights at very high grain flow rates.Thereby, the tube surrounding the paddles is of larger diameter than thetube surrounding the auger. The auger works best (considering graindamage) with a clearance of about ¾″, while the paddles are best suitedfor clearance more near ¼″. The confluence of all these factors leads tothe need for differential diameter.

One of the paddles at the tube 26 end is 90° offset to the end of theflight of auger 100 with the other paddle offset 180° from the firstpaddle. This feature both aids with the release trajectory of the grain,while also giving that transition flow greater capacity of flow volume.At the grain cart end of tube 108, an opening is created and a roof,110, extends laterally over to and covers sensor 106 and the feed end ofbubbler auger assembly 56. With sensor 106 being roughly 5″ wide, andthe width of roof 110 being roughly about 14″ wide, and sensor 106necessarily being about 1″ from the front wall, sensor 106 is sensingbetween about 30% to 40% (about 36% for the dimensions given) of thetotal width of grain flow flung by paddle assembly 102, which issufficient given the normalizing effects of the above configurations.The 1″ gap is necessary to allow flow that is crushed sideways by theplate to be swept past the sensor without negatively affecting sensorreading. It should also be noted both of the paddles carry an end piece,such as an end piece, 112, seen in FIG. 13A, that is back swept ingeometry to better facilitate grouping of the grain upon release towardssensor 106.

Referring now to FIGS. 14-19, a slidable end spout or hood, 114,terminates grain off-load auger assembly 22, or simply unloader 22. Endspout 114 is composed of a static upper spout assembly, 116, and aslidable lower spout assembly, 118, movable by an actuator, 120. Lowerslidable spout assembly 118 is mounted to upper static spout assembly116 by a pair of drawer slides, 122 and 124.

As best seen in FIG. 16, a front or end wall, 126, of static upper spoutassembly 116 is tapered (slants) downwardly until it meets the top endof lower slidable spout assembly 118. Worth noting at this time is thatfront wall 126 starts angling down at the very top of tube 22. Angledend wall 126 serves to deflect the grain in the upper half of tube 22downwardly due to its inclination, with the momentum of the materialflow also causing the flow to project outwardly. However, a frontforward wall, 128, of slidable lower spout assembly 118 will stop thatoutward momentum, turning all flow directly downwardly, and in factinfluencing all of the grain flow to turn downwardly and exit the spouttraveling nearly all downwardly. Also seen in FIG. 16, is an unloadauger, 130, housed within unloader 22. Unload auger 130 terminates witha bearing assembly, 132, carried by slanted wall 126.

It should be understood that hood 114 is tapered in that the hole at thebottom of hood 114 may be less wide and less long than at the top ofhood 114, at the greatest diameter of auger tube 22. The size of thehole in the bottom must be such that it will pass all the material flowwithout congestion or significant slowing of material flow, but smallenough that the material exits in a concentrated, uniform, and correctlydirected stream downward, this being true of high flow rates, andsignificantly reduced flow rates such that the material is not“splattered” outside of the receiving container (truck or grain cart,etc.). The phantom arrows in FIG. 16 indicate the predominant grainflow.

Hood assembly 114 is seen in is retracted position in FIGS. 14-16. InFIGS. 17-19, however, linear actuator 120 has been extended, resultingin lower slidable spout assembly 118 being extended outwardly, say about12″, relative to static upper spout assembly 116. A skirt, 134, alsoslides outwardly along with lower slidable spout assembly 118. Skirt 134in its extended position, covers a portion of the lower opening in spout114. FIG. 19, then, indicates the direction of grain flow by the phantomarrows with the extended orientation of the hood. The momentum of thegrain carries it outwardly with sloped wall 126 turning it somewhatdownwardly with the resultant direction of flow being outwardly anddownwardly. Since vertical wall 128 now forward of the grain flow, whichis primarily directed by sloped wall 126, the material flow is notdeflected as downwardly when hood 114 is retracted, and the resultanttarget of the flow is in fact further outwardly than the end of unloader22, especially given that unloader 22 typically can be some 4 to 6 feetabove the receiving vessel in some cases. It should be understood thatlinear actuator can move to any location between its home or retractedposition and its fully extended position, and at any positiontherebetween.

While the apparatus and method have been described with reference tovarious embodiments, those skilled in the art will understand thatvarious changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted forelements thereof without departing from the scope and essence of thedisclosure. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt aparticular situation or material to the teachings of the disclosurewithout departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it isintended that the disclosure not be limited to the particularembodiments disclosed, but that the disclosure will include allembodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims. In thisapplication all units are in the metric system and all amounts andpercentages are by weight, unless otherwise expressly indicated. Also,all citations referred herein are expressly incorporated herein byreference.

We claim:
 1. In a grain harvesting articulated combine of a forward cropprocessing power unit (PPU, 12), a rear grain cart (14), and anarticulation joint (26) that connects the PPU with the rear grain cartand includes an articular joint auger assembly (100) that moves cleangrain from the PPU to the rear grain cart, the improvement whichcomprises: (a) an ascending fill lift auger assembly (56) that receivesclean grain from the forward PPU and transports it upwardly and dumpsthe clean grain into the rear grain cart; (b) a pair of drag augerassemblies (78, 80) located at the bottom of the rear grain cart anddragging grain inwardly; (c) a grain unloader assembly (22) thatreceives grain from the drag auger assemblies and unloads clean grainfrom the rear grain cart; (d) two pump circuits delivering power to apair of hydrostatic motors (55, 60) located in the rear grain cart, afirst pump circuit hydrostatic motor (55) of the pair of hydrostaticmotors driving the grain unloader assembly, a second pump circuithydrostatic motor (60) of the pair of hydrostatic motors driving theascending fill lift auger assembly (56), the drag auger assemblies (78,80), and the articular joint auger assembly (100).
 2. The improved grainharvesting articulated combine of claim 1, wherein the second pumpcircuit hydrostatic motor is connected to a common chain box for powerdistribution.
 3. The improved grain harvesting articulated combine ofclaim 2, wherein the common chain box is clutched.
 4. The improved grainharvesting articulated combine of claim 1, wherein powering of augerassemblies not moving grain permits inertias of these auger assembliesfor startup or clog clearing of the other auger assemblies.
 5. Theimproved grain harvesting articulated combine of claim 1, wherein theeach drag auger assembly is covered by a door (84, 86) liftable foradmittance of grain for movement of the grain.
 6. The improved grainharvesting articulated combine of claim 5, wherein an actuator (88, 90)lifts the door.